DEAR editor,

Re Letters December 10, merger plan our best bet.

Ex-Navy officer from Barry, Dennis Harkus's promotion of a merger with Cardiff suffers from delusions about a "dynamic" city. Evidently he does not suffer the daily traffic congestion, waiting in queues, puffing out NOx and greenhouse gases.

Cardiff authorities are incapable of tackling the increasingly acute problem on the western side of the city. They embraced the idea of a 'metro' in the Cowbridge Road corridor, then promptly made planning decisions to fill Central Square with buildings that prevent a Metro tram-station and west-heading trams.

Though the route to Fairwater on to Talbot Green was to come second, the recent announcement puts it into a footnote on possibilities post 2023.

Cardiff Council planned huge housing expansion on the north-west, saying they will rely on rapid-transit buses in reserved lanes through the Llandaf and Cowbridge Rd corridors. But they abandoned consultants' impossible proposals to route them through Canton and Llandaf.

Cardiff would require the housing developer to build a huge Park-and-Ride by the M4’s Junction 33, with rapid transit buses via the Ely Link road and Leckwith access, piling into Leckwith Road's congested traffic.

Though any transport solution would be highly costly, Cardiff decided not to require any contribution from the highly profitable house builders; the developers would provide only for site-related highway changes.

Cardiff's £100 million budget for rapid transit routes had no funding source, so is being dropped. But they'll allow the housing developments that will guarantee traffic grid-lock on the west side of the city.

What about the ordinary buses, increasingly caught in the traffic congestion. They talk of making them attractive to car-users by enhancing bus speeds, reliability and comfort. Not a chance.

In practice, Cardiff Bus services are worsening, while Cardiff council as owners cut subsidies and take out a £250,000 dividend.

No, Mr Harkus. Transport is essential for a dynamic city.

Cardiff's is sclerotic rather than dynamic and there are no plans nor political will to rejuvenate it. Last time, Cardiff's 'dynamic growth' collapsed with the housing bubble (buy-to-let scam). If the new bubble does not burst first, traffic grid-lock and pollution will surely bring a stop.

In general, Cardiff's expansionist housing policy with little contribution from developers to services, is a recipe for public squalor amidst private affluence.

We see it in broken rubbish-strewn pavements, potholed streets and rotten bus shelters. Behind Cardiff's glitzy affluence, let us beware of catching their public squalor.

Max Wallis

Westbourne Road

Penarth